IT was a throwback moment, it might even have been one of his final hurrahs.
For periods of this game, Cristiano Ronaldo looked every year of his age, huffing, puffing, throwing the customary hissy-fit or two.
The idea of the 37-year-old being some sort of meaningful contributor to the Manchester United cause next season seemed a touch fanciful.
Bringing him back was a lovely, romantic coup but the swansong can only last so long.
And when he capped a miserable first half by duffing a free-kick into the wall, it was symbolic of his struggles.
But maybe the jeers at the end of the first 45 minutes cut deep or maybe he simply dredged into that deep well of brilliance to come up with the moment of the match.
Or rather, the match-winning moment.
Thanks to a rare mistake, Yves Bissouma lost possession and Ronaldo darted inside and, with minimal back-lift, snapped the crispest of strikes inside the post.
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Totally against the run of play, out of nothing, just a moment of clinical excellence.
Brighton, in total control until then, were rattled and were soon down to ten men when the VAR told Peter Bankes to look at the monitor and agree with him that Adam Webster would not have got to the ball ahead of Anthony Elanga, who had just been brought down by Lewis Dunk.
Off went Dunk and off went Brighton’s hopes of turning a decent display into points, their misery complete when Bruno Fernandes added a breakaway second deep into added time.
It was harsh on them because while the Ronaldo strike was a magical moment, it was out of keeping with the overall United performance.
In truth, they were lucky to be level going into the decisive second half, David de Gea, with a smart stop from Jakub Moder, yet again being called on to atone for the mistakes of team-mates - in this case, Fred, unsurprisingly.
Whatever the future holds for Paul Pogba, it is still hard to believe he should not get into this United first eleven ahead of Fred.
Presumably, Pogba will be gone in the summer, as will Ralf Rangnick, if only upstairs.
What his successor will inherit is a squad that has many stars but many flaws.
On some of the evidence presented in this game, by the way, United could do worse than make Potter the heir to Rangnick’s current role.
He certainly plays some nice stuff. Unfortunately for Potter and Brighton, the cutting edge was lacking.
Although Moder again brought a fine save out of De Gea with a meaty header, Bissouma put a sitter a mile wide and substitute Danny Welbeck headed over a glorious late chance to cancel out the Ronaldo strike.
And such was their casual dominance, Brighton were always vulnerable to the counter-attack.
Yep, that is often what this United team rely on at Old Trafford - the counter-attack.
Seriously, they will not challenge the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool until that changes.
And their supporters know it, that’s why they jeered their team off at half-time.
Surely it could only get better for United and it did - thanks to Bissouma’s mistake, thanks to the harsh red card … but thanks mainly to the throwback moment from one of the greatest.
Now and again, he has still got it.
